Elevated-railway system



' (N. o M o a e 1 2 s n e e t s s h e e t 1 E. NORTON.

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Patented Nov. 8, 1892.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. E. NORTON. ELEVATED RAILWAY SYSTEM.

Patented Nov. 8, .1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN NORTON, OF MAYWOOD, ILLINOIS.

ELEVATED-RAILWAY SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 485,708, datedNovember 8, 1892.

Application filed February 29, 1892. Serial No. 423,135. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it; may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWIN NORTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Maywood, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Im-' provement in Elevated-Railway Systems orStructures, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the construction of elevated railways.

The object of my invention is to provide an elevated-railway system orstructure of a simple and economical construction by which navigablestreams may be crossed without interfering with the use of the same forpurposes of navigation, and whereby, also, the use of special posts orpillars for supporting the elevated roadbed may be entirely dispensedwith and the damage to property and street obstruction incident theretoavoided.

To this end my invention consists in the combination, with an elevatedroad-bed, of a series of buildings adapted for offices, commercialpurposes, or other uses, erected along the line of the road-bed, andfrom which the road-bed is suspended or supported, thus utilizing saidbuildings for the double purpose of supporting the elevated road-bed andfor use as buildings. By this means I am enabled to conveniently andeconomically erect the elevated road-bed at such height from the groundthat a navigable stream maybe crossed thereby without interfering withnavigation, and so that the elevated road-bed will not materially darkenor obstruct any street which it may cross.

My invention further consists in combining with such elevated road-bedand its series of supporting-buildings an ordinarily-elevatedrailway-line or surface street-railway lines by means ofvertically-running elevators located in said building-supports.

My invention also further consists in the novel devices and in the novelcombinations and arrangements of devices herein shown and described.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown at Figure l a perspective viewillustrating my elevated-railway system, and at Fig. 2 a horizontalsection of one of the terminal building-supports, taken on the plane ofthe road-bed, and at Fig. 3 a partial vertical section taken on line 3 3of Fig. 2.

In the several figures of the drawings like letters of referenceindicate like parts.

In the drawings, A A represent the streets of a city, and a an alleyextending between the two parallel streets A A and along the line ofwhich the elevated road-bed B extends across the river or navigablestream A where the elevated road-bed B connects with an ordinaryelevated-railway line C or street-car or surface-railway line C. i

D D are buildings, preferably ten to fifteen stories in height, erectedat intervals along the line of the alley a, one on each side thereof,and which constitute the supports from or by which the elevated road-bedB is suspended or supported. Between each pair ofelevated-road-bed-supporting buildings D D is a connecting-arch D Theroad-bedsupporting buildings D D may be of any suitable constructionadapted to serve or perform the double purpose of adequatelysupportingthe elevatedroad-bedand of beingused like ordinary buildingsfor other purposes.

The elevated road-bed B is provided with two or more railway-tracks Z1I), connected t0- gether by a loop I) at the terminal building of theline. This loop b is laid upon one of the floors of the building, whichis also utilized as the waiting-room or landing-station, where thepassengers may get on or off the cars. The portion of the terminalbuilding occupied by this loop 17 and waiting-room D may preferably haveno stories or floors above it and be roofed in with a curved skylight orglass roof, as indicated in the drawings. The loop 19 and waiting-room Dare connected with the lower floor or floors of the building by a seriesof vertical elevators F F of any suitable and usual construction. Thefloor of this waiting-room may be in part formed of a skylight Dcovering a well or light-shaft.

In each building D D the elevators F F constitute the means ofcommunication between the elevated or'super-elevated railway B and theordinary elevated line C or surface line C. The superelevated road bed Bshould be placed at an elevation of one hundred feet or more above theground, so that vessels may pass under the same along the river Withoutobstruction. At intervals one or both the series of buildings D D areprovided with a waiting-room and vertical elevators communicatingtherewith to serve as stations along the line.

The elevated roadbed B may be supported or suspended from itsbuilding-supports D D in any suitable manner and may be of any suitableconstruction. The construction indicated in the drawings, and which Ipreferto employ,comprises suspension-cables b if, extending between theseries of buildings. Any other well-known and suitable construction maybe employed.

I claim 1. The combination, with an elevated-railway road-bed B, havinga railway-track, of two rowsof buildingsD and D',extendingalongthe lineof said road-bed, one row of buildings on each side thereof, theopposite building of the rows being connected together in pairs, saidbuildings being furnished with rooms and adapted for offices, commercialor other uses, and serving as supports from or by which said elevatedroad-bed is suspended or supported, whereby said road-bed may be erectedat such height as to span navigable streams without interfering with thenavigation thereof, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, with an elevated-railway road-bed B, of a series ofbuildings D D,

extending along the line of said road-bed, each pair of said buildingsbeing connected together by arches D said road-bed being supported orsuspended from said buildings, substantially as specified.

3. The combination, with an elevated-railway road-bed B, of a series ofbuildings D D, extending along the line of said road-bed, each pair ofsaid buildings being connected together by arches D, said road-bed beingsupported or suspended from said buildings, the terminal building ofsaid series being provided with a loop 6 and Waiting-room or floor Dsubstantially as specified.

4. The combination, with an elevated-railway road bed B, of a series ofbuildings D D, extending along the line of said road-bed, each pair ofsaid buildings being connected together by arches D said road-bed beingsupported or suspended from said buildings, the terminal building ofsaid series being provided with a loop 19 and waiting-room or fioor Dand an elevator or elevators connecting said waiting-r00 m with thelowerfloor or floors of said building, said loop b encircling said elevators,substantially as specified.

EDWIN NORTON.

WVitnesses: V

LYCURGUS B. Mooan, H. M. MUNDAY.

